Ok- Have been hoping that when my son chose a band instrument it would be something we have lying around the house like a FLUTE or even DRUMS, but n-o-o-o-o, he chose tenor sax.. Ok, the drums might have been worse, but they’re paid for. So, now I have to acquire a tenor sax. Anyone out there with a nice older instrument in good playing condition that they’d sell or maybe trade for flutes and/or whistles? I know there are plenty of flute players that cross over.
Here’s what I have (all in D): Seery Delrin flute; Sweetheart rosewood flute, whistle & folk fife & Dymondwood whistle (all separate- not combos); Syn brown lancewood whistle, old-style Burke brass tunable whistle, Howard low whistle. Also have an Abell C & D whistle set with extra thumbhole. With the exception of one flute & one whistle, this is pretty much my entire collection, so this is not a “thinning out of the herd”. I don’t want to divest any of them but nice instruments can be pricey and junk is, well- junk and I’d consider a trade for some of these if your sax is beyond what I can pay (and that changes daily). If interested e-mail or pm me with particulars.
You might consider renting a sax, at least for the first bit.
It will still be a low quality one but it will give you time to find a reasonable quality one…and your son to determine if he is going to stick with it.
Unfortunately, as saxophones go, good ones are much more expensive than many of your flutes/whistles put together, due to the complicated mechanics of the instrument.
If you haven’t already investigated this, I suggest a rent-to-own program, usually offered by a music store, and often working with school music programs. This way, you can find out if your son is really into the instrument, or if it’s just a passing fad. If the latter, all you’ve lost is perhaps a few months “rent”. This is how I got my first sax (a King alto, back in the 5th grade), which I eventually sold to buy my current alto (which I got for a steal - a Vintage 1927 Conn Elkhart, silver).
Bottom line, I suggest a student model, rent-to-own, or perhaps a student model from ebay, but of course, you never know what you’re gonna get there.
Rent to own is the best option and if the kid wants a Mark VI make him pay for it later on down the road. Lucky for me, my brother owns several (soprano, alto and tenor) older Mark VI’s so I get to play them when I want to and I don’t have to fork over the cash.
Thanks all for your kind advice. You’d think that the rent-to-own option would be a good idea, but in the first year, it will cost over $500 for an instrument that I won’t be able to sell 'cause I won’t own it. Went that route with my daughter’s first flute, but if I could have afforded a used flute when she started, I wouldn’t have had those pesky payments. I recently traded a Burns flute for a very nice used step-up instrument for her. Not that I don’t mourn the Burns, but it was worth it to me for her to have an instrument that will reward her efforts. She also plays the alto sax and I might be in the market for an alto but the school is letting her use one of their’s for now since she’s in jazz band at their request.
So I’m hoping that maybe with cash or a combo of cash & instruments, I will have a sax that my son can grow with or that I can sell for what I have in it 'cause I won’t be losing on the depreciation. Went ahead and rented one 'cause there’s a deal on the first 4 months. They’ll let him trade into something else if he changes his mind and now I have time to find the right instrument to invest in. The reason I came to the board is that folks here are the ones most likely to be interested in what I have to trade and I trust them to be square with me as to the condition of the instruments they have.
WOW - nice to know there are other sax to whistle guys out there - maybe we should start another thread.
Rent to own is the best starter. Another option is to look on your local “second hand” market - pawn shops, repair shops etc. It would be great if you had a friend who played to check out the horns. Last year I found a nice Yamaha Alto used, student model for a friend’s kid for about $500 in a pawn shop. Not a great horn, but a good starter. The key is to go with someone who knows what to look for and will play the horns in the shop before you buy.
Sax is a great place to start - maybe he’ll become a whistler later in life!
